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More investment in training and development by regional employers is leading to a happier workforce compared to metro counterparts.

New data from Leadership Management Australasia’s Leadership, Employment, and Direction (L.E.A.D.) Survey shows that 68 per cent of regional employees rate their job enjoyment as very high/high compared to 63 per cent metro.

Sixty six per cent of regional employees feel very highly/highly engaged with their organisation and its goals, compared to 62 per cent metro.

Andrew Henderson, general manager of Leadership Management Australasia, told HR Leader that regional employers are often better at caring for the human side of the organisation.

“Areas such as training and development, along with mentoring and coaching, have increased in importance and the research shows that regional employees are happier with what they are receiving, which helps boost engagement,” he said.

“A lot of training is done externally, so for regional organisations the investment of resources can be quite high. Perhaps this makes them ensure the training is very good quality.”

This greater job enjoyment and engagement has led to significantly less job seeking activity in regional areas. Half of regional employees (51 per cent) have considered looking for a new job in the last six months compared to 57 per cent in metro areas.

Henderson added: “You can definitely say that a lot of people move to regional areas for work-life balance reasons. It seems they are certainly achieving this, which is leading to greater engagement.”

“Regional businesses are also often more collaborative when it comes to battling through tough times, whereas in metro areas this doesn’t happen so much.”